ITHACA, NY (WSKG) - After the recent escalation of a leadership conflict in the Cayuga Nation, New York Congressman Tom Reed and Senator Chuck Schumer are urging a review of some federal funding to the Nation.
A spokesperson for Senator Chuck Schumer said the Department of Interior should reassume management of any of its programs in the Cayuga Nation. The response was due to the recent destruction of buildings and subsequent brawl that occurred days later.
According to the most recently available federal audit from 2018, that may affect who controls about $200,000.
Congressman Tom Reed is expressing concern about management of a recently announced federal housing grant of $287,948 awarded to the Cayuga Nation.
"We want to make sure that if there’s money coming from the federal government," he said, "for example on those housing grants, that they are going to the appropriate people and that they are going to be deployed appropriately, in the communities."
Reed and Schumer have both called for federal investigation into the recent demolition of a dozen buildings by order of the federally-recognized Cayuga leader, Clint Halftown. Their destruction lead to a brawl between some traditionalists who do not recognize Halftown as a legitimate leader.
The U.S. Attorney for Western New York, James P. Kennedy, Jr., confirmed that his office is working with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of Justice to investigate the buildings destruction.